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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25004884">Origami for Beginners</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeestainsandcashmere/pseuds/coffeestainsandcashmere'>coffeestainsandcashmere</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Short Stories [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluff, M/M, Origami, Soft Draco, soft fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:54:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,128</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25004884</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeestainsandcashmere/pseuds/coffeestainsandcashmere</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"“Do you know how to do origami?” </p>
<p>“You mean… like… paper cranes and the like?” he asked, cocking his head slightly to one side. Gods, he looked so cute with those reading glasses on and his head at that angle."</p>
<p>From a prompt on Tumblr about Theo and Hermione doing origami that quite literally grew wings and took off...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy/Theodore Nott, Hermione Granger/Theodore Nott</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Short Stories [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1810282</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>73</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Origami for Beginners</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is one of a new series of very short pieces I'll be posting on here from Tumblr prompts that have been sent in to me.</p>
<p>Currently (30th June 2020) prompts and free requests are open, so feel free to drop one by if you have a prompt for any combination of these three characters.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Theo?”</span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mm?” he asked, looking up from where he was sprawled on his stomach on the ‘other’ bed in his and Draco’s room. Apparently it had once been his at the start of term, but he’d moved into Draco’s almost immediately, and that one had become the ‘spare bed’ or ‘general dumping ground’. That it wasn’t currently buried under half a term’s worth of dirty quidditch kit and school uniform was probably some kind of miracle. Perhaps Draco had brought a house-elf with him to tidy their room up this week in advance of Hermione’s visit… She nearly scowled at the thought before she forcibly dismissed it from her mind. </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you know how to do origami?”</span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You mean… like… paper cranes and the like?” he asked, cocking his head slightly to one side. Gods, he looked so cute with those reading glasses on and his head at that angle. </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>She bit her lip to keep from crossing from ‘Draco’s’ bed to kiss him. “Yes.”</span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>He shrugged. “Draco’s the one who knows how to do those. You should ask him. He made a whole flock of them one Christmas and enchanted them to dive bomb me whenever I entered the room where they were flying around. In the end I incinerated them and he got very angry with me.” Somehow she couldn’t imagine Draco getting angry with him for that. </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>She snorted a laugh, but the amusement quickly dissolved into disappointment. </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo studied her face carefully and took his glasses off in a smooth motion. “Why d’you ask?” </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>With a shrug that aimed for nonchalant and failed quite miserably, she said, “No reason really. I just… I wanted to try something. It doesn’t matter.”</span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>He narrowed his eyes curiously, but let the matter drop. </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>A week later, while Draco was at quidditch practice in a raging thunderstorm, Theo entered the prefects’ common room with a book in his hands and a smile on his face. “There you are,” he purred when he found Hermione with her legs folded up underneath her like a young faun in the undergrowth. “How can that possibly be comfortable?” he asked, eyeing her tangled legs. </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Chuckling, she unfolded herself awkwardly and stretched without standing. “I think I lost feeling in my feet half an hour ago,” she admitted. “What’s that?” she went on when she spotted the unfamiliar book in his fingers.</span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Present,” he chirped with a wide, white smile that brought dimples to his cheeks and butterflies to her stomach. He held it out to her and she traced the gold-stamped title with her fingertips. </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Origami for Beginners</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” she quoted before looking up at him again, eyes bright. “Where did you get this? There’s nothing in the library on it…”</span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sent off for it,” he grinned. “Owl order from Flourish and </span>
  <span>Blotts</span>
  <span>. Along with this -” he added, producing a small stack of white paper with a suitable, well, </span>
  <em>
    <span>flourish</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Half of it ended up in the flames of the prefects’ common room fireplace as little more than a mangled mess, but after an hour or so they had one slightly lopsided heart, three ‘cranes’ - if you squinted - and a tiny galaxy of minuscule stars. </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ready to show him?” he asked, laughing at her sudden and uncharacteristic apprehension at their newly-concocted plan. </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I suppose. You don’t think he’d rather just… I don’t know, sleep after quidditch? The weather was foul tonight… He must be exhausted…”</span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo reached delicately across the hearthrug where they’d been sitting cross-legged, and slid his forefinger slowly, tenderly, under her chin and lifted it slightly. “I think he’ll love them,” he said, his lips now a hair’s breadth from hers. “Just like he loves you.” He closed the distance and kissed her oh-so-softly, and she smiled into the gesture, relaxing a little. </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>They entered the boys’ room to find Draco wearing just a towel, his white hair dripping down from the nape of his neck, down his back and over his shoulders, and Hermione’s cheeks flushed hot at the sight of him. “Dear Godric,” she hissed, coming to an abrupt halt in the doorway. </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Excuse me,” Theo snorted, scooting her forwards with a hand at the small of her spine. “It’s all things Slytherin down here in the dungeons, alright, love?”</span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>She fixed him with a flat look over her shoulder. “I’ll curse however I like when confronted with a sight like that, thank you very much,” she said archly and strode across the room to where Draco had half turned to observe their exchange with an odd, faintly bemused look on his face. </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What have you two been up to?” he asked suspiciously, but he kissed her easily enough when she greeted him. </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>From his spot by the door, Theo called, “You ready to show him, Hermione?”</span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>She snatched a quick breath, still strangely nervous about this. She didn’t want him to think it childish. After all, their combined efforts still resembled a muggle kindergarten child’s trials at folding paper… </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Theo tossed the little handful of stars into the room towards the ceiling and muttered a soft stasis spell under his breath, setting them slowly and gently spinning off each other. Wherever they collided they left a tiny flicker of sparkles. Next, Hermione drew out one crane from her pocket and released it, animating it with a whisper - just enough to make it flutter around in a circle through the stars without hitting them. Theo released two more from his hands, and finally sent the heart fluttering like a butterfly across the room to Draco, trailing silver sparks in its wake like a comet.  </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Draco stood there watching everything with his eyes glistening, and a strangely soft expression on his usually severe face. “I didn’t think you could do origami, Theo,” he whispered as he held out his palm and the heart landed there like a drifting autumn leaf, quivering once before falling still and silent. He turned it over in his long fingers and found the letters ‘D’, ‘T’, and ‘H’ on the back, which made his lips quirk up into a lopsided smile. </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We didn’t before tonight,” Hermione admitted, and his eyes found hers. “But Theo found a book and we had a go.”</span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love them,” Draco said breathlessly. He really did sound winded. </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>She stepped over to him and slid one arm around his bare, beautiful, solid, lean torso. He was like a Bernini sculpture, pale and absolutely, achingly perfect. She ran her palm up over his pecs and his silver eyes fluttered closed as his chest heaved suddenly. </span>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>The cranes continued to circle each other in the galaxy of wonky stars above, while Theo and Hermione drew Draco to the bed, and Hermione’s fingers unfastened the towel from the jut of his hips…</span>
  
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Come find me on Tumblr and leave me a prompt if you like - <a href="https://coffeestainsandcashmere.tumblr.com">coffeestainsandcashmere</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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